RIAA Loses Power To Bully

from the slapped-down dept

Isn't it funny how, once a bully has been scolded by someone more powerful, they seem a lot more powerless? That's what ISPs are suddenly discovering about the RIAA. Following Verizon's win over the RIAA concerning subpoenas for those sharing music, the RIAA's latest tactic has been to send letters to various ISPs, asking them to send nastygrams to any users the RIAA identifies. The thinking is that, with all the lawsuits already in the news, these nastygrams will have the same impact as the lawsuits and get people to stop sharing music. The only problem is that the ISPs no longer seem afraid of the RIAA and aren't necessarily willing to roll over and take orders from the RIAA any more. Or, at least, they're not willing to publicly admit that they will. In the article there are a bunch of quotes from ISP spokespeople that basically seem to say "well, we don't want to say anything publicly, but we might agree to send on nastygrams."